Standing by his swimming pool at his home in an affluent Madrid suburb, retired engineer Juan Manuel Cosmes Cuesta enthuses over the 30% state subsidy he will get for installing solar panels that have already more than halved his monthly power bills.
"Lots of people we know - neighbours, my wife's friends in the area - are doing it and everyone is happy," he said.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com"I understand that for these subsidies you have to put up part of the money first and that it is a lot for many people," said Manuel Blanco, a 44-year-old plumber who lives in the 1970s-built San Pascual district.
Grievances over social justice were at the heart of the "yellow vest" protests in France in 2018 that prompted President Emmanuel Macron to abandon an ecology tax on petrol and diesel, which was meant to limit fossil fuel use, but was seen as hitting those who could least afford it. Regarding the new subsidies, residents' associations, consultants and researchers told Reuters low-income apartment owners were either unaware of them or reluctant to sign up.
Contrast that with the brisk trade in subsidised solar panels in the wealthier suburbs of Madrid and Barcelona, where one-family houses dominate: Christopher Cederskog, chief executive and co-founder of solar supplier SunHero, expects least at 30% more installations this year.
Italy’s "super-bonus" scheme is even more generous than Spain's. The state pays 110% of the cost of turning buildings green, from insulation to solar panels to replacing boilers and window fittings – has created jobs and boosted the economy, but has also run into issues of fairness.
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